Groups: No COVID funds for infrastructure
WASHINGTON – Organizations representing long-term care facilities on Friday urged lawmakers working on a bipartisan infrastructure plan to avoid dipping into Covid-relief funds to help pay for the roughly $600 billion in new spending sought for the public works build-out.
The request comes as lawmakers are struggling to finish up negotiations over the package amid stubborn disagreements over how to pay for the new spending. Lawmakers and staff are expected to work through the weekend, sorting through the flurry of tensions over funds for water resources, public transit and other details in what they hope are the final stages of their work.
The groups representing the longterm care facilities said tapping virus relief dollars would be “short-sighted, especially as COVID-19 variants continue to spread.” They noted the delta variant that now accounts for most of the new cases and threatens “the safety of our nation’s seniors and their caregivers.”
Senators working on the infrastructure plan hope to have a bill ready to be voted on this week. President Joe Biden has made passing the bipartisan plan a top priority, the first of his two-part $4 trillion proposal to rebuild, but a Senate test vote failed last week after Republicans said they needed more time to finish the package and review the details.
Negotiators have struggled over how to pay for the new spending without raising income taxes or user fees such as the federal gas tax. They’re looking at other sources, including undoing a Trump-era rule on pharmaceutical rebates, redirecting billions of unspent dollars from last year’s COVID-19 relief and tapping other funding streams.
Even if the negotiators strike an agreement, it’s not at all clear the funding sources will pass muster with the Congressional Budget Office, the chief arbiter of many bills in Congress. If the final accounting shows the package is not fully paid for, some lawmakers may balk and use that as another reason to vote against it.
Groups representing nursing homes and other long-term care facilities called on the negotiators Friday not to redirect money from a fund established to reimburse health care providers for expenses and lost revenue due to COVID-19.
The Department of Health and Human Services said Friday there is about $24 billion not yet allocated to providers, out of about $178 billion Congress approved for the fund through various relief measures.
The groups said some of their members have not been able to get reimbursement for expenses and lost revenue incurred in the latter months of 2020 and this year and were anxiously awaiting another round of funding from HHS.
A Democratic aide granted anonymity confirmed that how to redirect certain COVID-19 relief dollars is still among the issues that have not yet been resolved.
The final package would need the support of 60 senators in the evenly split 50-50 Senate to advance past a filibuster.
The package would next go to the House, where some Democrats are fearful that their priorities have been overlooked during the Senate negotiations and are warning that their votes should not be taken for granted.